Oregon Offers Inspiration for Geothermal Development

Last month, Pagosa Verde attended the Geothermal Resource Council’s 2014 Annual Geothermal Energy Expo in Portland, OR. With about 33 MW of geothermal power on-line in Oregon producing 165 GWh in 2013 and roughly 19 projects under development in Oregon, the state offered a fitting location to host this year’s event and an inspiration for other state’s with untapped Geothermal resources such as Colorado. To share Oregon’s successes, ThinkGeoenergy.com recently posted important facts about their story and the many benefits geothermal energy regardless of where the project is located.

“Geothermal power provides permanent jobs. For every 100MW of geothermal power there are 170 permanent jobs supported and development of those projects produces over 600 annual construction and manufacturing jobs.

Geothermal has the lowest life-cycle emission of any renewable technology besides hydropower.

Geothermal power projects have the lowest land density compared to any other renewable power technology.

Geothermal power plants can be engineered to be firm and flexible power sources in addition to being source of a renewable baseload power.

Geothermal fields can operate for 30 years or longer, the largest geothermal field in North America, the Geysers in California celebrated its 50th birthday this year.”